Women’s power and social justice will be the theme of Illinois Wesleyan University’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Teach-In on Jan. 16 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Keynote speaker at 1 p.m. is author, activist and independent scholar Barbara Smith, who has played a groundbreaking role in opening a national cultural and political dialogue on the intersections of race, class, sexuality and gender. Smith was among the first to define an African American women’s literary tradition and to advance Black women’s studies and Black feminism in the United States.
Read some of Smith’s past writings available to you through I-Share and The Ames Library.
The Truth that Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom
From Amazon: “The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom brings together more than two decades of literary criticism and political thought about gender, race, sexuality, power, and social change. As one of the first writers in the United States to claim black feminism for black women, Barbara Smith has done groundbreaking work in defining black women’s literary traditions and in making connections between race, class, sexuality, and gender.”